Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan wins Buddhibal Kreeda Trust Online Blitz Open
The strongest ChessBase India Online Blitz event was won by GM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan. He scored an unbeaten 8.5/9, finished a full point ahead of the competition to win the tournament. He won ₹10000 cash. Last month he won his first ChessBase India Online event March Masters Open. Both GM Diptayan Ghosh and GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara of Peru scored 7.5/9 each. They were placed second and third to earn ₹5000 and ₹3000 cash respectively. The tournament witnessed 171 players including 27 GMs, 36 IMs, 2 WGMs and 8 WIMs fighting for a total of ₹30000 prize fund. The entire prize fund was sponsored by Buddhibal Kreeda Trust and the entry fee collected was donated to the PM Cares and CM Relief fund.
S L Narayanan wins his second ChessBase India Online Blitz event in three weeks
GM S L Narayanan wins the strongest ChessBase India Online Blitz Open. The event witnessed 171 players including 27 GMs, 36 IMs, 2 WGMs and 8 WIMs from India, Argentina, Colombo, England, Germany, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, USA and Uzbekistan. Narayanan scored an unbeaten 8.5/9 and finished a full point ahead of the competition. GM Diptayan Ghosh and GM Jose Eduardo Alcantara Martinez of Peru finished at 7.5/9 each. They were placed second and third respectively.
The tournament prize fund was sponsored by Buddhibal Kreeda Trust. In the picture above is Mr. Prakash Kunte, one of the founders of BKT with his wife.
Speaking to ChessBase India, Prakash Kunte said, "Thanks for conducting the online Chess tournament on 14th of April 2020. It was a great tournament. Yesterday I received Entry fee amount of Rs. 26,250/- I added Rs. 3,750/- from trust fund and Total Rs 30,000/- will be given as donation to Chief minister's relief fund Rs. 15,000/- and Prime minister's Care fund Rs. 15,000."
Pabh held Narayanan to a draw
Pabh (GM Abhimanyu Puranik) is the only player in the entire tournament to hold Narayanansl (GM S L Narayanan) to a draw. Narayanan had decent advantage in the middle game, but Pabh managed to equalize after his opponent made an inaccuracy.
Pabh - Narayanansl, Round 4
White continued the game with 20.Ra1. Can you find the better continuation for White here?
Jose's jinxed King
Narayanan scored an emphatic victory against Jospem31 (GM Jose Eduardo Martinez) in Round 5 after the latter's king got stuck in the center.
Jospem31 - Narayanansl, Round 5
Find out the best continuation for Black after 18.Rc1.
After a lot of thought black played 24...Qe6 which is inaccurate. It allows white to equalize. Can you find it? Also find out what black should have played instead of 24...Qe6.
Diptayan missed a draw against Narayanan
After losing an exchange early in the opening, Diptayan somehow managed to get a equal position in the endgame as his opponent made an incorrect exchange of rooks. Although it was a correct practical choice in the eventual champion Narayanan's part as it is quite difficult to defend with a Knight against a Rook in the endgame especially when you have few seconds left on the clock.
Diptayan - Narayanansl, Round 7
Black missed a much easier win with 54...Ra2+ as both 55.Ke3 and Kg1 leads to white losing the exchange with Ng4+ or Nxf3+
Narayanan survives a scare against the Uzbek tiger
In a topsy-turvy game where evaluation changed multiple times, Narayanan survived a massive scare against Uzbektiger95 (GM Jakhongir Vakhidov) in the penultimate round.
Narayanansl - Uzbektiger95, Round 8
Black continued the game with 29...Be5, however there was a better continuation. Can you find it?
Black got another opportunity to choose the correct continuation but instead he played 33...Qh4 which turned things in white's favor and allowed Narayanan to score the victory. Find out why 33...Qh4 is a mistake and what black should have done instead.
Hit and run against Hitter1999
In the final round, Narayanan faced Hitter1999 (GM Aravindh Chithambaram) who is the reigning National Triple Crown champion. The game was more or less equal throughout, only in the endgame Hitter1999 made a huge mistake which cost him the game.
Hitter1999 - Narayanansl, Round 9
Find out why 32.a4 is a mistake and what white should have done instead.
Diptayan dominated the Uzbek tiger
To understand how strong Diptayan (GM Diptayan Ghosh) is, you need to check his win against Uzbektigert95 (GM Jakhongir Vakhidov). Once he got an advantage, he made the most out of it without letting it slip away even for a moment.
A game of misses
The game between Chessworld1 (GM R Praggnanandhaa) and Diptayan witnessed two misses from both players. However in the second miss, both players were in deep time pressure which is evident from the time taken to make the moves.
Chessworld1 - Diptayan, Round 9
White continued the game with 27.Nxf6, however there was a better continuation. Try to find it.
Find out the correct technique for black to secure a victory.
Highlights of Round 1
To get the idea of how strong the tournament was, Round 1 witnessed several unexpected results between the games of titled players. Here are a few positions from Round 1.
Creator1198 - Zanta
Miloni006 - Devil1234
Chessworld1 - Gupta_Sankalp
Irus1997 - Sai Agni J
Chessylife - Fighter64
Final Standings:
The top 15 finishers on the prize list are:
1. GM S L Narayanan
2. GM Diptayan Ghosh
3. GM Jose Martinez Alacantra
4. GM Jakhongir Vakhidov
5. GM R Praggnanandhaa
6. GM Aravindh Chithambaram
7. IM Terry Renato
8. IM Saravana Krishnan
9. FM C J Arvind
10. GM P Iniyan
11. IM Sankalp Gupta
12. IM Ravi Teja
13. GM M R Venkatesh
14. GM Elshan Moradiabadi
15. GM Alan Pichot
Rating category prizes
Below 1300
1st - Padmaesh M K (1293) 4.0/9 - ₹400
2nd - Rajrajeshwari Yogesh Deshmukh (1208) 4.0/9 - ₹300
Below 1200
1st - Sujan Bharadwaj (1129) 4.0/9 - ₹400
2nd - Ashok Turkia (1176) 4.0/9 - ₹400
3rd - Kuldeep Chotrani (1164) 4.0/9 - ₹300
Below 1100
1st - Nihira Koul (1025) 4.0/9 - ₹400
2nd - Archit Saigal (1093) 4.0/9 - ₹300